Reviews

Scarface: The World is Yours

With so much vengeance to dole out in the game's sprawling, evocative, but not necessarily realistic version of Miami, you're going to be doing a lot of driving to cover ground. Like the game's treatment of guns, the cars (styled after real vehicles, but with made-up names) really feel powerful, and driving is just as much fun as shooting. Since there's a lot of water around Miami and the game's scope also includes "the islands" to the southeast, you've got a boathouse as well as a garage. You start out with one modest vehicle to your name, but as you finish a few missions and cut a few deals, you'll find yourself able to purchase new cars that, via Tony's blocky '80s cell phone, you can have delivered to you at any time. This saves you time and spares you from the ignoble existence of living from jacked car to jacked car. Since you can choose your ride depending on your requirements or simply what kind of mood you're in, you get the feeling that it's not just Tony Montana that's important, it's you, the player, that's important.

Amazingly, the subtitle "The World is Yours" actually means something in this game. Your goal is to build an empire by selling coke (Tony supposedly abstains from using, but you have to wonder how he can soak up so many bullets) and taking out big rivals in dramatic, blood-soaked set piece missions. You start off small, selling coke to individual dealers, and work your way up to buying out businesses to use as fronts for your operation. Once you've taken a warehouse, you can close a big deal and do high-stakes, high-payoff deliveries that can net you millions of virtual dollars. Your first big run is likely to be desperate, as you find yourself driving around in a bullet-ridden car and blood-soaked suit, desperately trying to make it to the bank to launder your money. The bank takes a cut every time, but if you don't clean your money up and you get yourself "killed," you'll lose all your dirty money. As the game will tell you, "You f*****d up."

Money laundering is one way the game makes you feel that you're making progress and building an empire, and a second way is reputation. Completing missions, taking control of businesses and killing people who deserve it all translate directly into personal credit. As your reputation builds, new letters will light up on the Scarface logo and you'll have access to new weapons, cars and assets in your Exotics catalog. You'll soon start getting calls from ladies who will populate your mansion, although they effectively function as furniture (Tony says so much when you speak to them, mirroring lines to his mistress in the movie), and big events will pop up along the way to move the story along.

Scarface is without a doubt a solid, well-made game. It has some interesting takes on the genre, nailing things that other similarly styled titles have attempted and failed at before. Not only that, it has incredible quantities of high-caliber voice work. Interestingly, at any time you can say something out of the blue or walk up and start a conversation with anyone in the game, with very entertaining results. If you name a random celebrity who's worked in the last twenty years, there's a decent chance their voice is in here (with the notable exception of Al Pacino, but the sound-alike is apt and hilarious anyway). The soundtrack is as illustrious as the cast list and likewise too extensive to even broach in a review, full of fitting '80s tunes and some anachronistic but thoughtful additions from modern acts.

There's a lot to praise, but despite being fun and interesting, the game isn't perfect. Gamers who are getting used to the next-generation of console visuals aren't going to be impressed with either the PS2 or the Xbox version of the game, although options like widescreen and progressive scan are supported on both. Past superficial faults, there are bound to be a few duller moments in the game where you need to work hard banking drug money or pumping your reputation to move on to something more interesting. Controlling your henchmen for side-missions isn't very interesting or enjoyable. The game's outrageous tone does dull a bit as you move on, and the action and dialogue eventually start to repeat themselves. Still, Scarface is a long-lasting experience that's simply a lot of fun. Part guilty pleasure, part blazingly successful experiment in game design, Scarface: The World is Yours is definitely worth a shot.